Firms Find It Good Business To Invest In Language Classes

The scene was the United States-Soviet nuclear arms talks in Geneva. Did the Soviet Union have an advantage before the two groups even sat down?

On one side of the long wooden table sat the Soviet foreign minister and his team of four Soviet diplomats, all of whom spoke English.

On the other side of the table sat Secretary of State George Shultz and his team of four negotiators -- only half of whom spoke Russian.

If having a second language is a skill, as most academics tell us, then the Soviet team of diplomats was the more highly skilled one in Geneva. But then, says Joan Rogers of Linguex International language centers, Americans are just now waking up to find the world doesn`t defer to English as it used to.

``What is really astounding to me is that (American) diplomats abroad can`t communicate verbally,`` says Rogers, operations officer for Linguex International, a language school that recently opened offices in Fort Lauderdale. ``I think in the past our aggressive attitude has led us to take the attitude that `If you want to do business with me, you`d better speak my language.` ``

American diplomats still may take that attitude, but progressive U.S. businesses with an eye on the future have begun to invest in foreign language as the key to growth, Rogers says.

In South Florida, hospitals, hotels, newspapers and companies such as Southern Bell and Bloomingdale`s are sending employees for lessons in Spanish in order to better accommodate foreign-speaking people who live here. Other businesses, such as Canada Dry and Cigna Healthplan, are asking employees to learn Spanish and Portugese to facilitate business operations in South America.

Though the need to be bilingual is more evident in Dade County, Linguex officials chose to open a center in The Galleria, Fort Lauderdale, to meet the needs of Broward County-based companies.

``The majority of our market is multinational companies,`` Rogers says. ``We have a lot of multinational companies with Latin American headquarters. So we`re talking about employees who are being transferred to South America and need to learn Spanish, or Spaniards being taught English. But we also have a market for cultural reasons.``

After a decade in which foreign language studies in the United States neared extinction, American businesses are leading the way in a slow trend toward bilingualism. A 1980 Congressional commission called the nation`s lack of language skills ``scandalous`` -- finding only one in 50 native-born Americans fluent in a foreign language. In Japan, one in five people speak a foreign language. The report cited the United States` difficulty filling military, intelligence and diplomatic positions abroad.

But it has been foreign competition for the U.S. dollar that has really caused a new interest in second languages. Rogers says the growth of Japanese trade and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have forced American businesses to become more aggressive in the world market.

``On the international marketplace years ago, everyone was buying from America, and America led the way,`` Rogers says. ``The rule of thumb is if you`re buying, you can speak your language. But if you`re selling, you`ll need to speak theirs.``

In South Florida, the growing interest in bilingualism is twofold, Rogers says. South Florida-based companies are eager to do business in South America or with South Americans living in Florida. Hispanics or other foreign-born people who move to Florida are eager to learn English to obtain better-paying jobs.

South Floridians who are bilingual already have a big edge in the local job market. And Rogers thinks most of those people are native Hispanics. ``I think Hispanics are learning English more and are getting the bilingual jobs. An interesting question would be: Out of people with bilingual job requirements, how many have a native language of English and how many have a native language of Spanish?``

At Modern Languages Institute in Fort Lauderdale, owner Demetrios Bonaros has combined a language studies center with a secretarial school to turn out bilingual secretaries. The first class of bilingual secretaries just graduated, and all were immediately hired.

``I think down here if you have a second language you definitely have a better chance for employment,`` Bonaros says. ``But I think (the desire) to learn foreign languages goes up and down depending on the economic situation with South America and Japan.``

But Gladys Mahonin, district director of the Berlitz Schools of Languages in Fort Lauderdale, says the interest in second languages is growing. South Florida Berlitz schools used to teach more English to native Hispanics than Spanish to native Americans. Now, requests for Spanish and English instruction run about even.